Freida Pinto: Senseless Bollywood Movies

Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto has ruled out plans of starring in Bollywood films, as she is more interested in real cinema rather than the song and dance routines. She has been offered several “stereotypical” roles for “a girl from India” ever since she got famous, but she’s adamant about avoiding parts in masala Bollywood movies.

“I wouldn’t want to do a Bollywood film per se, but I would like to do an Indian language film. For some reason I think Bollywood has become synonymous with commercial cinema, which is song and dance and everything that is larger than life. I am interested in the reality,” says the actor, who got herself an agent in Hollywood soon after the response to Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

The actor also worked with Woody Allen on You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger earlier this year. She adds, “It is great to have entertainment, but I think there needs to be something that also makes you want to go back and think about what you’ve seen.”

The actor, whose last release, Miral, failed to impress critics worldwide, says, “Mindless cinema is not my cup of tea..., I could get into trouble for saying that. I don’t think Bollywood is only mindless cinema, but a lot of films they churn out are not films that I completely enjoy watching.

But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand the amount of hard work that goes into making those ‘mindless films’. “I say hats off to them for doing what they do, because it takes a lot of courage. It is easier to stand and deliver dialogue. Imagine dancing a song out and expressing through it. I think it is a challenge and requires you to lose your inhibitions,” she adds.

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